


Facades: Nothing Is What It Seems

by iamthefacebehindthemask



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Office, Coffee Shop Owner Tsukishima Kei, Humor, M/M, Romance, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthefacebehindthemask/pseuds/iamthefacebehindthemask
Summary: Kei and Tetsurou both have secrets.In other words, this story is that power couple AU this pair totally deserves because honestly, how can they be anything but?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I still don't have any idea where I'm going with this, but bear with me, okay? Okay.

_Hands on his hips spun him around roughly, and the man those hands belonged to aggressively led the dance, forcing Kei to follow. Their dinner lay forgotten at the table as the weaved through many other dancing couples. The wine from earlier as well as the twirl made Kei dizzy, but he was in no position to ask to stop. Everything was riding on this, and he knew what he was temporarily giving up his sense of balance for._

_Still, when it was clear that his dancing partner did not know how to lead and was simply doing so out of pride, Kei held back an insult and simply straightened to emphasize his height, catching the other man off-guard and taking over the leading role._

_At least he could dance in time with the music, he justified to himself, bitterly._

* * *

He shut the front door behind him as quietly as he could, and slid his drenched coat off his shoulders, hanging it on the coat hanger next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Kei saw that a section of the hallway was illuminated by light escaping through the gap left by an ajar door. He didn’t need to count the number of doors to know that it was that of their bedroom. Which meant that Tetsurou was awake.

Stepping out of his shoes, he made his way down the hall, this time not as careful about making no noise. As he drew closer, he could hear the sound of a piano. Tetsurou didn’t play, but he loved listening to recordings late at night. Kei gently pushed the door open and walked into the room, placing his briefcase next to the high chair.

“I see you’re still awake”, he mentioned by way of a greeting, without looking in Tetsurou’s direction. The latter smiled at the sight of Kei taking off his contacts; Kei rarely used his glasses when attending the kind of meeting he had been at earlier.

“Welcome home.”

“Don’t you have to wake up early, old man?”

Tetsurou chuckled. “I’m only two years older. And you know I can survive on less sleep, unlike someone I know.”

Kei clicked his tongue in annoyance, looking at his partner.

“You can tease me now, as long as you make your own coffee in the morning when I refuse to.” 

“But Kei”, Tetsurou whined. “You know your coffee is the best in the city.”

“And most people pay for it, so be grateful you get it for free”, Kei retorted as he sat down on the bed, having changed into his nightclothes. He continued, “And seriously? _Clair de Lune_ , of all pieces? I’ve introduced you to way better stuff, yet you listen to that one song all the time.”

“It has a part of your name in it.”

Kei sighed in exasperation at that, a helpless smile on his face as he reached over to turn the music player off and then pluck the spectacles off Tetsurou’s nose to fold them and place them on the bedside table. As he withdrew his hand, Tetsurou reached for it, brought it close to his face and kissed the inside of Kei’s wrist. The hand, once released, moved to softly caress Tetsurou’s cheek, who groaned quietly.

“You’re being amazingly affectionate tonight.”

Kei replied, “I’m always affectionate”, as his head fell on his pillow, his hand retracting and falling by his side. Tetsurou moved to lie down as well and turned on his side to turn the table lamp off. Then he turned around and draped one arm over Kei’s stomach, holding him in a loose embrace.

Kei went still for a moment and hoped his partner wouldn’t notice. But Tetsurou did, as always.

Stroking Kei’s side in a comforting fashion and trying to keep his tone casual, he asked, “How did it go?”

Kei exhaled. He knew it was bound to come up sooner or later, but he had hoped the entire ride home that it would be later. The events of the evening had exhausted him, and presently, he really needed his partner’s quiet comfort, not his queries.

Tetsurou somehow sensed all of this in Kei’s breathing, and simply pulled him closer, burying his face in Kei’s neck. He murmured against soft skin, “There’s no hurry, my love. Let’s talk later.”

Kei lost himself in the slowly steadying breaths against his pulse and drifted off.

* * *

Stepping out of the bedroom in a jet black suit and trousers, crisp white shirt, and charcoal gray tie with his hair a perpetually untameable mess, Tetsurou wondered if his coffee was ready. As if to answer his thought, the doorbell rang that very moment. He opened it to see one of Kei’s employees, Yuuko.

“Good morning, Kuroo-san”, she greeted him, bowing slightly. Handing over the steaming cup in her hand, she said, “I brought your coffee, made by Tsukishima-san.”

He grinned at her as he accepted the cup, and said, “Thanks for bringing this over, Yuuko-san. Send all my gratitude to him, will you?”

She bowed once more, and then Tetsurou was alone in their apartment again. He raised the cup to his lips, careful to only sip a little to examine the taste. But he knew the coffee would be perfect, as it always was when it was made by Kei. He made a mental note to stop by the café before going to work; Kei had left without waking him up, and he wanted to see his lover’s face at least once before going into his crazy schedule for the day.

At the thought of Kei, Tetsurou recalled the events of the previous night. His lover had seemed a little unusual when he had returned. Tetsurou wanted to attribute it to the fact that it was post-midnight, and that Kei had woken up at 5 AM, as he did every single day since he had taken over the ownership of the café. But he couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it than that.

Tetsurou thought back to the moment he had kissed his lover’s wrist, as he had inhaled the scent of freshly baked bread and cheese along with something that was distinctly Kei. The latter’s expression had been mellow and transparent, and Tetsurou hadn’t been sure where one emotion ended and another began. He hoped things hadn’t gone much worse than expected.

Clearing his head as he took note of the time, Tetsurou rushed out. He didn’t want to be late.

As he dropped his briefcase in the back of the sedan, he told the chauffeur to wait and walked in the direction of the café. It was definitely beneficial to live right across from Kei’s workplace, Tetsurou thought happily.

But he quickly backtracked, trying to not get noticed, when he saw someone else press a hand against Kei’s arm through the glass windows of the establishment, body language clearly indicating an interest in his lover.

Walking swiftly (but without drawing attention to himself), he hopped into the backseat of the car and curtly said, his face betraying no emotion, “Office, please.”

The sedan sped off, and Tetsurou did not look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think? Who was the mystery man at the start? And who was flirting with Kei? And what was Kei not talking about?


	2. Chapter 2

Kei’s phone buzzed, signaling the arrival of a text. Before he could read it, however, his phone started ringing. Kei answered the call, and Tetsurou’s voice came through.

“Kei, I forgot to ask you sooner, but would it be possible for you to leave the café earlier than usual today?”

Kei considered his schedule for a moment, then replied, “Yes, I can. Why?”

“There’s an event in the evening, and many law firms from the city have been invited. Including ours.”

“Alright.”

“Sorry for the short notice, love.”

Kei smiled at the nickname.

“I literally own this place, Tetsu. If I wanted a day job with fixed hours, I would still be working at my last place.”

Tetsurou chuckled. Then, there was a long pause.

Wondering if his partner had hung up, Kei said, “Hello?”

“Kei”, Tetsurou began, hesitantly. “Everything is okay, right? I know last night-“

“Everything is fine”, Kei replied, trying to reassure his partner through the tone of his voice. “I was just really tired yesterday.”

“You’re sure? You know you can tell me, right? If there is something, we can work on it together.”

Kei felt his chest tighten. He loved how Tetsurou always rushed to remind him of his unwavering support in all of Kei’s endeavors, even though his partner knew that Kei was well aware of this fact.

“Tetsu, I’m fine. I can handle it.”

Tetsurou exhaled softly, the sound carrying over the phone, and Kei could hear satisfaction with that answer.

“Be ready to leave by 5 PM. And if you want to match outfits, you should know that I’m wearing black.”

Kei stared at his phone for more than two minutes after Tetsurou hung up. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he reread the text he had received right before the call.

_Kei, it was a pleasure making your acquaintance last night. I hope you don’t mind that I came to see you at your café this morning. Let’s go out for a drink whenever you can sneak away next._

Bringing him out of his reverie, there was a sharp knock on the door of his office, which was located at the back of the establishment. It was the manager.

“Tsukishima-san, can we go over the details of the special event happening at the café next week?”

Kei beckoned him inside and locked his phone. There was simply no time to get distracted while at work.

* * *

 

“Let’s make a bet.”

“Oh?” Tetsurou was interested; Kei always played his hand cautiously, so clearly, he was confident in his ability to win the bet that he hadn’t even made yet.

Kei smirked. They’d been together for so long that it wasn’t hard for him to figure out why his partner’s tone was curious. 

“Within the first five seconds of us walking into the hall, Bokuto-san will greet us.”

Tetsurou chuckled. “I’m in, even though I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose.”

His lover leaned into his side as the elevator slowed down, making him sigh involuntarily; such moments of tenderness were difficult to have when both of their schedules were so packed. “You’re always such a good sport, Tetsu.”

“Anything to stay in your favor, love.”

The usher at the doors checked them into the event before pulling the doors open to reveal a lavishly decorated conference hall.

“Here we go”, Kei muttered out of the corner of his mouth as the two of them stepped in, holding hands. Tetsurou started a mental countdown as he scanned the room, making a note of the attendees as they walked around crowded roundtables. The air smelled like a familiar mixture of cologne, alcohol, and air freshener.

As the clock in his mind ticked down, Tetsurou wondered if this time, he might actually win a bet against Kei. But, then again, he knew better than to hope for something that hadn’t happened in years.

“Kuroo! Tsukki!”

Two well-dressed gentlemen, one vigorously waving at them and the other wordlessly letting himself be half-dragged by his companion, made their way towards the couple. Kei threw a knowing glance in Tetsurou’s direction, before preparing to greet the new arrivals.

“How many times have I told you not to refer to me as ‘Tsukki’ when we are at events like this, Bokuto-san?” Kei clicked his tongue in mock annoyance once the two were within earshot. The man named Bokuto just dismissed the odd greeting, as though he had heard it countless times before.

As Tetsurou and Bokuto hugged each other energetically, Kei bowed at Bokuto’s companion. “Akaashi-san, it’s nice to see you again.”

Akaashi bowed in return. “And you too, Tsukishima.”

The two of them engaged in small talk, not unlike their respective partners, until Tetsurou offered to get everyone drinks from the bar. It was then that Bokuto abruptly turned towards Kei and exclaimed with a grin, “By the way, Akaashi and I saw you a few tables down from where we were eating dinner last night!”

Kei’s eyes widened, and his mind nearly blanked out completely. _There was no way Bokuto-san had seen- unless… no. There really could be no way he would be able to tell, right?_

His mouth went dry because there really was no telling what Bokuto knew, exactly.

Bokuto went on, “We would have come up and greeted you, but Akaashi said we would be intruding, and- “

Akaashi cut him off with a firm hand on Bokuto’s shoulder and a warning look, just in time for Tetsurou to return with four drinks and inquire, “What did I miss?”

This time, Bokuto was tactful enough to not say a word. Kei swooped in and salvaged the moment.

“You weren’t gone for very long, Tetsu. We barely even found a topic of conversation. Would you mind holding onto my drink for a bit, actually? I’ll be back.”

And with that, Kei excused himself and went to the restroom.

* * *

 

“I apologize for earlier, Tsukishima.” 

Kei looked up from the sink he was washing his hands in. In the mirror, he could see Akaashi leaning against a wall, arms crossed across his chest. He smiled lightly and shook his head.

“There’s no need to apologize, Akaashi-san. It’s quite alright.”

“Bokuto-san was going to ask you rather explicitly why you were dancing with someone who wasn’t your lover. The answer to such a personal question, however, is no one’s business but yours. And, if you would like, your partner’s. It is certainly none of ours.”

Kei turned around to face the other man, having finished drying his hands. He wore an unreadable expression on his face.

“Thank you, Akaashi-san, for respecting my privacy and for your concern. I'm very thankful”, Kei replied, voice expressing genuine gratitude. Akaashi looked as though he was expecting Kei to continue, to address the unasked question that hung in the air. But Kei’s silence signaled the end of the conversation, and the two men left the restroom, an uncomfortable quietness between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some new people! They are definitely going to make appearances later on, in case you were wondering :)
> 
> What do you guys think? :D Talk to me in the comments!

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me your thoughts, share feedback, or come yell at me in general in the comments!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and your kudos and comments are greatly appreciated ^_^


End file.
